Directed by: Paul Verhoeven
Starring: Carice Van Houten, Sebastian Koch, Thom Hoffman
Sony Pictures Classics 21488
Video: 2.35:1 anamorphic/enhanced for 16:9, 1080p HD
Audio: Dutch 5.1 uncompressed PCM, Dutch DD5.1, DD 2.0
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Hindi, Spanish
Extras: Commentary track with Paul Verhoeven, Interviews with Verhoeven & Van Houten, Theatrical trailer
Length: 146 minutes
Rating: *****
Verhoeven doesn’t pull any punches in this hard-hitting and provocative WWII story, which – as he says in the featurette – tells the story from the enemy’s side, whereas his earlier Soldier of Orange told it from the Dutch side. The time and place is Holland in 1944, with wealthy Jewish fugitives trying to escape the Nazis by going to Belgium, but they are caught in a planned series of ambushes set up independently by one of the Nazi brass to steal the money and valuables of the Jews.
Rachel is the only member of her family who survives by diving off the boat being machine-gunned by the Nazis. It’s just the first extraordinary action she takes to survive. She has to mimic a body in a coffin to get thru a German checkpoint. She then works with the resistance and turns a chance meeting on a train with the captain of the German headquarters into an affair with him in which she is emotionally involved. He has lost his wife and children in the brutal firebombing of Hamburg and is trying to work a truce with the resistance to avoid further bloodshed. He learns she is a spy but keeps it secret out of love for her. Rachel, who has changed her name and hair color (all over too), uncovers a traitor in the underground group. Eventually her deceptions make her an enemy of both sides as she and the captain attempt to survive together as the war ends. According to Verhoeven, Dutch audiences successfully accepted the film’s exposing the evils of some Dutch who profited from supposedly helping the Jews.
Verhoeven is not afraid of nudity or extreme violence in his films, but this time they advance an absolutely gripping story, though some scenes may be hard to take for some viewers. It is long but never flags for a minute. Another reviewer called the film “twisty” – a good summary. Acting is excellent, the transfer looks terrific with extreme detail even in the dark areas, and the uncompressed track shakes up the viewer in the fire fights and explosions. Verhoeven is awfully talkative in the interview but imparts some interesting information.
– John Sunier
